On-line medical journal “Cureus” conducts study on Omani pilgrims returning from Ashura Massive Pilgrimage

The San Francisco-based on-line medical journal “Cureus” has conducted a retrospective study using an electronic, self-completed, and Arab-language survey, composed of 17 questions, that was distributed to Omani pilgrims returning from Karbala.

Participation was voluntary, and consent with confidentiality was obtained.

Data on the demographics including sex, COVID-19 vaccination record, type of vaccine, duration of stay, compliance with wearing a face mask, using hand sanitization, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus before the departure from Oman, upon the return to Oman, and on the eighth post-quarantine day were collected.

The responses were collected from the period between August 28, 2021, and September 25, 2022. Out of 250 pilgrims, 139 responded to the survey.

Fifty-two participants (37.4%) were males, and 87 (63.6%) were females. None of the pilgrims had positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR results before their departure from Oman. Only four pilgrims (2.9%) were detected positive on PCR by the end of a compulsory quarantine on the eighth day after arrival to Oman. No hospital admissions were recorded.

The incidence of COVID-19 cases among pilgrims returning from Iraq during the COVID-19 pandemic was low. No significant difference was noted between pilgrims vaccinated and compliant with the protective measures and those who were not vaccinated or compliant.

Herd immunity could be a possible explanation for the low incidence of COVID-19 infection. Larger studies are needed to investigate the incidence of COVID-19 in Ashura pilgrims.

The present study is the first to investigate the incidence of COVID-19 in pilgrims returning from Ashura religious gatherings, where over 20 million people from all over the world converge in holy Karbala to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and his family and companions, peace be upon them.

The study demonstrated a strikingly low incidence of COVID-19 infection of 2.9% with no hospitalization among pilgrims returning from Karbala.

While the general recommendation from all the governments was not to visit SARS-CoV-2-endemic areas such as Iraq, our population took the risk of travelling to Karbala.